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Frameworks, Strategies and Tools

Edited by M. A. Quaddus and M. A.B. Siddique

Achieving corporate sustainability (CS) is one of the most difficult challenges facing organizations in the twenty-first century. This comprehensive Handbook examines the current status and future direction of sustainability frameworks and applications in the corporate environment.

Handbook Chapter

Extract

M.E. Ali and M.A.B. Siddique INTRODUCTION Despite the significant implications of Milton Friedman’s view that a company’s main purpose is to generate profit for its shareholders, in recent years there has been growing interest in the social dimension of corporate activities beyond economic performance. This is partly because of the relatively increasing demand from citizens for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rather than just the efficient production of goods and services by corporations (Fuentes-Garcia and Nunez-Tabales et al., 2008; Jamali, 2008). A corporation is a business organization so its involvement in social responsibility is not required by law, but corporations have also become more responsive to the demanding new social environment and new social demand for CSR. This sort of CSR is the discretionary responsibility of a business entity. Discretionary responsibilities are socially desirable actions taken by business entities that are beyond their economic, legal and ethical obligations (Caroll, 1979; Caroll, 1991; Chen and Patten et al., 2008). The business entities act on these responsibilities to gain comparative advantage through supporting community and interest groups. Therefore, they are implementing CSR activities, which include all their environmental and social activities that go beyond mere economic interest of a corporation (FuentesGarcia and Nunez-Tabales et al., 2008; Schaefer, 2008). Most corporations perform their social responsibility by providing financial support to various community activities, such as sports promotion, health and wellbeing programs, and education. It is argued that a firm needs to search for comparative advantage for its sustainable development as well as for survival...

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